Live theatre shows in Toronto with ticket prices of $25 or less, playing the week of September 24th, 2018. All of these shows are perfect for the budget-conscious theatre enthusiast, so check out Toronto’s theatre scene without breaking the bank!
Continue reading Cheap Theatre in Toronto for the Week of September 24th, 2018
Gender and women in Shakespeare are hot topics. In recent years, the Toronto area theatre scene has featured a number of Shakespeare productions with women playing men’s roles. Women have played Lear, Prospero, and Romeo to name a few. Daisy Productions’ new play, Ladies Sigh No More, on stage now at The Red Sandcastle Theatre, is a different take on the role of women in Shakespeare. Instead of playing with casting, Ladies Sigh No More imagines what would happen if seven of Shakespeare’s female characters were put together in one room. It’s a hilariously funny look at the Bard, the afterlife, and female empowerment. Continue reading Review: Ladies Sigh No More (Daisy Productions)
As always MoT is here with fabulous suggestions for the theatre-goer in you! Summer is over, and the Toronto theatre scene has plenty of offerings to take your mind off the fact that fall is quickly approaching! Our managing editor Wayne has put his top picks in red!
Continue reading Playlistings in Toronto for the Week of September 24th, 2018.
Oscar Wilde’s “trivial comedy for serious people” arrives on the Toronto stageThe Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde’s most beloved play (and also, coincidentally, the play that was running during his infamous trial, which caused it to close early back in 1895). It’s easy to see why it’s his most famous theatrical work: it’s a sparkling, witty, joyously silly romp that playfully lampoons Victorian society’s preoccupations with convention, appearances, sexuality and marriage.
Continue reading Review: The Importance of Being Earnest (Alumnae Theatre)
Dinner theatre is about pure entertainment. You, and at least one other friend since dinner theatre isn’t really a solo activity, plan to have a lovely evening out with some food, a few drinks, and some laughs. Mysteriously Yours’ No Time To Kill does a great job in providing you exactly what you’re asking for in dinner theatre, food, laughs, and entertainment. Continue reading Review: No Time To Kill (Mysteriously Yours)
Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times remounts a play about Gertrude Stein and Alice B. ToklasGertrude and Alice, Buddies in Bad Times’ remount of Independent Aunties’ 2016 work about the lives of revolutionary writer and bon vivant Gertrude Stein and her “secretary,” Alice B. Toklas, doesn’t feature the traditional biopic structure. After all, as the characters tell us, if we want all of the facts in a timeline, we can simply consult the handsomely-appointed program, one of the most informative and attractive I’ve seen outside of the Shaw Festival, before or after the show. More to the point, Stein says, “what happened is only one part of what is important.”
So, what is important? We start with Stein (Evalyn Parry) welcoming us to the proceedings, part lecture, part party and part peek into the inner workings of Stein and Toklas’ (Anna Chatterton) decades-long working and romantic relationship. In a constant patter of audience acknowledgment, but not participation, she quizzes us as to whether we’ve read her works, and if not, why are we here? Are we interested more in the image of Stein and Toklas than in Stein’s ideas? Why are we much more likely to have read the work of those she mentored – all men – than hers? These questions hang in the air throughout the evening.
Continue reading Review: Gertrude and Alice (Independent Aunties)
Hart House Theatre presents a new production of Heathers: The Musical in TorontoHeathers: The Musical, currently showing at Hart House Theatre, is based on the cult classic ’80s film of the same name; a dark comedy where the struggle for popularity—and, for some, just plain acceptance—leads to hate and violence. It is teen angst with a death count. For the most part, the musical follows the same plot and characters and has a similar campy appeal. Continue reading Review: Heathers: The Musical (Hart House Theatre)
Troy Crossfield’s new play; a live “soap opera” is playing at Toronto’s Berkeley Street TheatreAfter I got home from seeing A Little Black Lie at the Berkeley Street Theatre I took a minute to look at the program. In the playwright notes Troy Crossfield says “Looks like we’re creating a soap opera and you get front tickets.” He’s referring to his play, A Little White Lie which was on stage a year ago. It’s referenced a fair bit in A Little Black Lie but you don’t need to have seen it, the references are self-explanatory.
He’s right for a couple of reasons. While I was watching the play last night I thought more than once that it should be a TV show or a movie or three plays. Continue reading Review: A Little Black Lie (Crossfieldhouse Productions)
A play by Joan MacLeod igniting conversations about mental health is now on stage in TorontoThe Valley by Don’t Look Down Theatre Company hopes to ignite conversations about mental health. It’s taking place in Theatre Passe Muraille’s (16 Ryerson Ave.) backspace until September 23, 2018 and I thought it made for a memorable show.
The Passe Muraille Backspace is tiny and chilly from the AC. The tough content of this show certainly won’t warm you, but perhaps the dialogue it inspires will. This is a show about four characters in Vancouver and how their lives are affected by mental illness.
Live theatre shows in Toronto with ticket prices of $25 or less, playing the week of September 17th, 2018. All of these shows are perfect for the budget-conscious theatre enthusiast, so beat the end-of-summer blues by taking in some quality theatre!
Continue reading Cheap Theatre in Toronto for the week of September 17th, 2018